The Orkney Islands have been overwhelmed by a delivery of 38,000 bananas after an ordering slip-up by a Tesco employee.
With nearly double the number of bananas than the entire population of the islands, the supermarket has been giving away hundreds of boxes of the stuff.
The Tesco store in Orkney, off the north coast of Scotland, was unexpectedly flooded with tens of thousands of the spotty yellow fruits last week.
An admin gaffe meant the Kirkwall store accidentally ordered 380 large boxes rather than 380kg.
There are roughly 100 bananas per box, leaving the town’s 7,500-strong population overflowing with approximately 38,000 bananas.
In a calamitous turn of events, ferocious winds meant ferries between the island and the mainland were cancelled, so the crates could not be returned.
The islanders proved themselves a game bunch and started a giveaway drive, with the excess boxes given away to local groups and schools.
Paula Clarke, Tesco’s community champion, posted an appeal to Facebook offering the cardboard boxes of exotic fruit for free.
“We have mountains of bananas… literally,” she wrote, alongside a photo of her next to towering stacks of banana boxes.
Paula added: “Any local groups, schools etc can come and collect a box, free from the Customer Service Desk at Tesco.”
Islanders took to Facebook to share their creative uses for the masses of bananas they were inundated with.
Recipes included banana muffins, pancakes, banoffee pie and dehydrated banana chips.
One local even suggested an experimental homemade banana liqueur – one for the braver Orcadians.
It is understood Tesco has also arranged for some of the stock to be sent out to the outer isles of the remote archipelago.
In 2024, another Orkney island made an embarrassing order gaffe, ending up with 720 Easter eggs.
The isle of Sanday, where Sinclair General Stores was based, is home to just 500 people.
Owner Dan Dafydd made the most of the mistake though, hatching a plan to raffle off 100 of the chocolate eggs to raise money for the RNLI.
Dan explained: “The rest of the staff have found it very entertaining.
“I was doing our orders for Easter eggs and was looking at getting 80 in. But when the delivery arrived at our store it turned out I had ordered 80 cases, meaning I had 720.”
